My best friend growing up was a painter. She had long wild hair and enjoyed a command over colors that I never had. I always admired her and, once, when she was abroad at an art college in Rome I sat in the extension of her parent’s house and got lost in her canvases –…
Category: Creative Writing
Cam wrth Gam – Step by Step
I have always believed that people should follow their passions – find the thing they love and do it with as much energy and dedication they can muster. This belief often makes me a difficult party guest. I ignore the small talk and ask questions instead, try to uncover what the person uncomfortably holding their…
Being Grateful
This time last year I asked my Roath Writers group to make a list of things they were grateful for. Not generic things but specific people, experiences, qualities, places, and anything else that mattered to them. My initial list included both my ankles and my energy. Since then, I have continued thinking about the importance…
Writers Welcome
One of my favorite things about being a freelance writer is meeting other writers. And, not just writers, but artists, musicians, woodworkers, choreographers, singers, actors and anyone else with a unique and exciting passion. There is a reason why people engaged in these pursuits are considered to be part of a ‘creative community’. Because we…
ATTIC documentary: A Matter of Perspective
Originally posted on ATTIC:
Last year I was lucky enough to facilitate MARGIN, a writer’s group which responded to exhibitions at ATTIC, a contemporary gallery concerned with scientific, personal and cultural understandings of the mind. This documentary beautifully illustrates ATTIC’s work and ethos. I feel honored and incredibly grateful to have been a part of it. You can read…
Interview with Clare Potter
Originally posted on Welsh Writers’ Trust:
Clare Potter is a poet, playwright, collaborator and educator, originally harking from Blackwood, South Wales. She taught and lived for several years in New Orleans, where she was a consultant for the New Orleans Writing Project. Her collection, ‘spilling histories’ (Cinnamon, 2006), is based around the Hurricane Katrina disaster.…
Writing Our Lives
Both Anne Lamott and Sharon Olds taught me to write what I know. Before I read their work I did this by composing journal entries and secret stories which I hid in a blue tub under my bed. After I read their work I continued to write what I knew, just more often and publicly,…
Counting Pheasants
Following the success of our Landscape Writing series, Emma Beynon and I are currently booking a beautiful venue in Pembroke for our first weekend writing residential. Held in October, this retreat will give up to six participants a chance to write, read, walk, and explore the countryside with other writers. Full details will be posted shortly!…
People and Place
Today the street I live on in Canton is preparing to host a Big Lunch event. The pavement is being swept, the bunting is going up, and the bouncy castle is on its way! If you don’t know, the Big Lunch is a UK-wide initiative which aims to get millions of people to have lunch…
Arcades and Alleys
When I first arrived in Cardiff I had my own ideas about what its arcades and alleys would be like. I assumed the arcades were places kids went to play pinball and the alleys were something I had to steer clear from at night. I could not have been more wrong. In the four years…
Christina Thatcher 